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U.S. NEWS Saturday 27 July 2019

In this Feb. 24, 2019, file photo, containers of Roundup are displayed on a store shelf in San
Francisco.
Associated Press
Judge reduces $2B award in
This undated photo provided by New Jersey state
Assemblywoman Angela McKnight shows three "Feel Better
Dolls" sharing the shelf with a stuffed animal bearing an "I Love Monsanto Roundup case to $87M
New York" message at a One Dollar Zone store in Bayonne, N.J.
Associated Press OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A Pilliod's $1 billion each in Alva Pilliod, 77, was diag-
Black rag dolls judge has cut a jury award punitive damages in addi- nosed with non-Hodgkin's
in a lawsuit that found that tion to a combined $55 mil-
lymphoma, a sometimes-
meant to be abused Monsanto's Roundup her- lion in compensatory dam- fatal form of lymph cancer,
in 2011, and Alberta Pilliod,
bicide caused cancer in ages.
are pulled from stores a California couple from Smith reduced punitive 74, was diagnosed in 2015.
$2.055 billion to $87 million, damages to $70 million. They had used Roundup
the third time a judge has She also reduced the com- for more than 30 years to
By DAVID PORTER images online. The Pater- reduced an award in a pensatory money the jury kill weeds on three proper-
Associated Press son-based company didn't lawsuit over the disputed awarded to the couple for ties they owned. Doctors
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Black adequately check a large chemical. past and future pain and say their cancers are in re-
rag dolls that came with lot of items it had received The judge said Thursday suffering to $17 million. mission but could recur.
instructions to "find a wall" before distributing them to that evidence supports The couple had anticipat- Last August, a San Fran-
and slam the toy against stores, he said. the jury's conclusion that ed the reduction, and their cisco jury awarded $289
it have been pulled from "This somehow slipped Roundup was "a substan- lawyer said the overall rul- million to former school
three stores after customers through the cracks," he tial factor" in causing non- ing was "a major victory." groundskeeper Dewayne
and a lawmaker said they said. The dolls were includ- Hodgkin's lymphoma in Although "the reduction in Johnson of Vallejo. A judge
were offensive. ed in a shipment of about Alva and Alberta Pilliod, damages does not fairly later reduced the award
The "Feel Better Doll" 35,000 pieces of closeout the San Francisco Chroni- capture the pain and suf- to $78.5 million. In March, a
featured instructions to merchandise, Shah said, cle reported. fering experienced by Alva federal court jury awarded
"whack" the doll "whenever mostly with an "I Love NY" Alameda County Supe- and Alberta," attorney more than $80 million to Ed-
things don't go well and theme, including mugs and rior Court Judge Winifred Brent Wisner said in a state- win Hardeman of Sonoma
you want to hit the wall and picture frames. Smith said evidence also ment, "the judge rejected County, whose cancer is in
yell." The president of One The supplier that shipped supported the finding that every argument Monsanto remission. A judge reduced
Dollar Zone said roughly the order offered to credit Monsanto knew the her- raised and sustained a very that award to $25.2 million.
1,000 dolls were pulled this One Dollar Zone for the bicide's active ingredient, substantial verdict." The three California trials
week from its store in Bay- cost of the dolls, Shah said. glyphosate, could be dan- Monsanto's parent com- were the first involving an
onne and two others also in The dolls' manufacturer, the gerous and failed to warn pany, the German phar- estimated 13,000 plain-
New Jersey. Harvey Hutter Co., couldn't the couple from Livermore, maceutical firm Bayer AG, tiffs with pending lawsuits
The dolls were made of be reached at several California. said it would appeal. against Monsanto.
black fabric with yarn hair phone numbers and email But Smith said the puni- The reduction in damages The International Agency
of red, green, black and addresses at its location tive damages were much is "a step in the right direc- for Research on Cancer,
yellow in the style of dread- just north of New York City. higher than constitutional tion," the company said in an arm of the World Health
locks, and featured large Shah forwarded an email limits set by the U.S. Su- a statement, but the ver- Organization, classified
white eyes and a white from supplier Global Sou- preme Court, which has dict and damages "conflict glyphosate as a probable
smile. Bayonne Mayor Jim- venir Marketing stating that said should generally be with the extensive body of cause of human cancer in
my Davis said in a Face- the company is no longer no more than four times reliable science and con- 2015. The U.S. Environmen-
book post that the dolls in business. Global Souvenir the amount of damages clusions of leading health tal Protection Agency and
were "insensitive" and "can Marketing did not respond awarded as compensation regulators worldwide" that most regulatory bodies in
certainly be considered to an email seeking com- to victims. both Roundup and glypho- Europe say it can be used
racist." One Dollar Zone ment Friday. A jury in May awarded the sate are safe. safely.q
President Ricky Shah apol- One Dollar Zone oper-
ogized for the dolls' ap- ates more than two dozen
pearance in the stores and stores in the northeastern
said they were pulled Mon- U.S. from Massachusetts to
day after someone posted Pennsylvania.q